France Plans to Crack Down on Piracy Problems

Jul 05 2018

It takes a boycott of a chic gala celebrating the lineup at Cannes for Françoise Nyssen, French Minister of Culture, to take audio visual piracy seriously in the country of France.

After confirming through a study conducted by the French anti-piracy group ALPA, Mediametrie and the National Film Board that 372 million videos have been streamed illegally in 2017, various TV and Film guilds are getting serious about the French government taking steps to crack down on this extremely common theft.

Film and TV piracy is still a problem everywhere, and last year it cost the country 1.2 billion €, according to Screen Daily. American films top the charts when it comes to the question of what to watch for French streamers, and the typical age of someone participating is 37.

The study suggests that, in 2017, American movies represented 54% of all films watched illegally, while French flicks only represented 17%. Popular series to pirate are the ever binge-worthy Grey's Anatomy, Walking Dead and Doctor Who, Game of Thrones and Stranger Things among others. Popular films, according to[nbsp]Variety, are Ron Howard's Inferno, Robert Zemeckis’ Allied, Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Rupert Sanders’ Ghost in the Shell, James Gunn’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Michael Bay’s Transformers 5 : The Last Knight. In France, the blockbuster comedies were the most streamed and downloaded illegaly. Among them are Ma famille t’adore deja, Papa ou Maman 2, and Raid Dingue.

Will this issue be resolved? Francoise Nyssen plans to "tackle" the issue and make a black list of all offending websites. Only time will tell whether we will see a change.